1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a method for detecting the presence and concentration of bacterial spores in a medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
The detection of bacterial spores, sometimes called `endospores`, is useful for a wide variety of purposes. For example, in military applications, biological warfare agents include spore-producing bacteria that cause diseases such as anthrax, botulism, gas gangrene and tetanus. Because spore-producing bacteria are relatively uncommon in certain environments such as in ambient air, the detection of spores can be used to sense the release of such agents. The detection of spores of such bacteria can also be important in determining and implementing appropriate countermeasures against such agents. In agricultural technologies, spore-producing bacteria such as Bacillus thuringiensis are often used as insecticides. Spores in soil or plant samples can be monitored to ensure that the bacteria population is sufficiently high to be effective against insect pests. In the sanitation and hygiene fields, the detection of bacteria spores can be useful to monitor indoor environments, water quality, and food quality. In addition, the detection of nonviable bacterial spores can be useful to paleontologists.
Bacterial endospore concentrations are not easily determined with conventional techniques. Among the primary conventional techniques are microscopy and plate culture counting, both of which are extremely slow and tedious to perform. It would be highly desirable to provide methods that allow rapid and simplified detection and determination of the concentration of bacterial endospores.